In December last year Micron impressed us by producing the world’s first 20nm 128Gb NAND devices. It was 40% smaller than 25nm versions, which not only made it the smallest memory chip, but also the most power efficient too.

Impressive as it was, Micron’s chip is no longer the smallest as SanDisk has managed to knock another nanometer off in manufacturing. Today, the company announced the new world’s smallest 128Gb NAND flash memory chip, which uses a 19nm process and has a silicon die measuring just 170mm2.

SanDisk uses multi-level cell (MLC) NAND combined with its X3 technology to produce the memory chips. X3 is now in its 5th generation and uses a 3-bit-per-cell design. That translates to write performance of 18MB/s for the new memory when combined with SanDisk’s All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture. ABL allows for much faster data access as it enables reliable simultaneous access to two word lines.

128Gb parts offer up 16GB of storage. Eight can be combined to produce a tiny, fast, and power efficient 128GB flash memory chip. SanDisk also created a 64Gb 19nm part, which the company has said is compatible with the microSD format.

With Micron also producing 128Gb parts, SanDisk’s manufacturing breakthrough should offer up more competition and therefore lower prices for 128GB and lower flash memory products. It also makes it an easier choice for next generation smartphones and tablet manufacturers to opt for 64GB, or even 128GB of on-board storage.

SanDisk has already begun manufacturing and shipping the 128Gb memory, but is now ramping up production to high volume.